www.iFourWinns.com

Several of our local marina's are dredging, so most should be fine for spring launch with the water level we have.
Northern Indiana/Illinois and SW Michigan marinas, particularly those on the rivers, may indeed have dangerously low water levels
this spring, if they are not on the dredge plan. An aquaintance of mine owns the busieness that does most of the
dredging of Lake Michigan ports, and he is booked for this season with the larger ports, and nothing scheduled by his
company (King Co.) for non gov't, early season dredging operations as of last week when we spoke.

Hope the water comes up for the "boater's beach" gang...

_________________
One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

We seem to have had the opposite problem, courtesy of Sandy, in that a new inlet opened up on Fire Island and they have had more flooding than was ever reported in the last 30 years because more water is flowing in and out between Long Island and the barrier islands. Right now there is a big discussion between the Army Corps of Engineers and the enviros the Corps wants to fill it in the enviros to let it be because the water flow improves water quality. Even tho we have to deal with salt, never a shortage of water here, no matter what. Sandy's storm surge was 15 feet above normal here, the entire barrier island of Long Beach (which is completely built up unlike Fire Island) under about 5 feet of water in some places. Where I live on the North Shore we had 9 feet above normal and some roads were flooded but nothing like the South Shore which was like a war zone, boats were all over the roads, in the middle of Montauk Highway, on the LIRR tracks, etc.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Ugh! Will winter ever end!?
I was just thinking this weekend would be a good weekend to start working on the boat. Until I checked the weather
High of 34 on Saturday.

I was hoping to space out all my boat projects over quite a few weekends but this weather won't even let me get started.

_________________
2004 248 Vista "Amante"
MC 5.0MPI/B3

I agree Jeff. This winter garbage is really starting to get old!

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

I can't disagree with you guys. I didn't really mind missing last weekend to work on our boat, but if I miss this coming weekend then I get rushed to get my normal spring boat prep stuff completed before I want to be splashed (second week of May).

My first chore is applying two coats of bottom paint before I remove the shrink wrap and I need a good 10 degrees celsius for that. This weekend does not look like it will reach that temperature.

On the bright side though, all this rain forecast over the next three days should help out our water levels.

Mike.

_________________

Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

We got a dose of spring today and it was 76 when I left work, 55 when I got home to the Cape because of the sea breeze. Back to chilly temps for the next few days though....April is up and down.

_________________
1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

We had the same warm weather here, 78 yesterday and today... But highs only in the 50s this weekend

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

this is the best weather to get my boat buffed out. already polished my eisenglass.
waiting for the windy days to stop so I can get in the engine compartment to replace the battery charger and check things out

_________________
"Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes "

1996 238 Vista dlx "Casper's Toy Too"
2006 5.0GXI w/closed cooling, DP-sm 1.95 drive
Previous boat:
1998 Sundowner 205

Southern Ontario is under a winter storm watch now. Freezing rain for my neck of the woods.

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

10 to 15 cm of snow for us on friday. Lakes are still solid... Grrrrrr....

Really slow melt this year up our way.

_________________
2009 H180 w/3.0 Merc
Homebuilt Minimax Hydro
2011 Zodiac Cadet 310

As long as that melt and rain make into the big lake, I don't mind a little more waiting. Better than ending the season early because the lake is 12-16 inches low and ramps are dry.

_________________

1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

As promised we got it good. Power went out yesterday at 7:30 AM. It's like a war zone here! Trees downed everywhere and busted limbs all over the place. The power company tells me maybe 11:00 tonight before it's restored. A large limb is hanging dangerously above my house and feeder lines. I have contracted a bucket truck to deal with that early next week. I'm glad my house has a steel roof or I'd be fubared.

FREAKIN WINTER!!!! It Sux

John

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

Oh ya,,,,I'm in a hotel 30 miles away FTR.

_________________
07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

Can I ask how you do that? I want to, just not sure how.
Thanks,

_________________


Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

There are plastic polishes. Novus is one: http://www.novuspolish.com/products.html
I used some on our chartplotter's screen (plain, NOT a touchscreen) and it really worked wonders. I'd imagine you could likewise use than on the VINYL panels as well.

They haven't been eisenglass since, well, before any of us were born. They're just plain old clear PVC vinyl unless you know it's strataglass or the like. Nit<--picked.

You'd know if it was strataglass because your wallet would still be stinging from the hit it took to buy them. But you can also tell by the material being so stiff as to be un-rollable. For that stuff you really want to use the manufacturer's suggested cleaning methods and NOTHING else.

For the factory clear vinyl you could try the Novus. Yes, it's expensive but a little goes a long way. I don't know that I'd get the heavy-duty scratch remover unless you know it'd help.

I thought I'd need it for the chartplotter but didn't. I only used the #1 cleaner, then the #2 fine scratch remover and then the #1 again. Came out looking brand new. The problem with mine was salt had etched into the anti-glare they put on it. The Novus took care of it, like new.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista